


A World Alone

by red_peril



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: 2019 Formula 1 Season, Alternate Universe - Formula One, F/M, F1 - Freeform, Formula One, OFC - Freeform, daniel ricciardo - Freeform, in progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:00:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_peril/pseuds/red_peril
Summary: 11:27 PM. An oddly specific time.Jade was totally drunk by then. It serves her right for not eating before a night out. Daniel was stone-cold sober as he did have a race to finish the next day. The next morning, Jade was in tow to watch her first F1 race in person from the back of the Renault garage. Who knew that celebrating their friend's achievements would lead to a world less alone?
Relationships: Daniel Ricciardo/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> This story follows the 2019 Formula One season, starting in Germany. The rest of the races will not follow the actual race results as, based on the plan for this story, I'll need a bit of artistic licence.
> 
> This is also totally a story of fiction, and mainly uses the driver's names etc as basic characters. Nothing said or done by the characters in 'A World Alone' is representative of their real-life counterparts. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading and new chapters will be updated as quickly as possible :)

Jade woke up in a room she wasn't quite familiar with. She had been pretty drunk the night before, and she somewhat recognised the grey drapes held back on either side of the large windows that were letting in the bright German sun. The carpet covering the floor was also somewhat recognisable and she blinked her eyes, desperately trying to stop the dry sensation in her eyeballs.

She spotted one of her shoes lying by the window and sat up, the thin sheet falling down onto her legs. She took another look around the room, realising she still had her contacts in from last night. As she reached for her phone from the bedside table, she noticed the long black sleeves of her top still covering her arms.

She peeked under the covers, not really needing to because she now felt the familiar tightness of the belt of her jeans around her middle. Thank fuck, she thought to herself. It had just gone 8 AM according to her phone and the thought only just came to her to peek on whoever it was that was sleeping next to her. He had dark curly hair and a smattering of stubble covering his jaw and cheeks. He shifted a bit and rolled onto his back. He was facing the ceiling and Jade realised who she had spent the night with.

"Shit," she said a bit too loudly, causing her companion to open one eye.

"I'm trying to sleep here, you know," he murmured groggily, looking at her through the eye that was open.

"Shit!" she repeated, louder than before. "Sorry."

He laughed at her and reached to grab his phone from the table on the side of the bed he was on. "It's cool, you've managed to wake me up in time for training," he said, his voice still sleepy, his Australian accent very pronounced in his voice.

"You're Daniel Ricciardo," she said, still really not with it.

He laughed again, and said: "You're Jade Kirke, right?"

It was her turn to laugh this time."Shit, man. You actually remembered my name?" she asked, not quite remembering the events of the previous night.

"Yeah. I was sober." He grinned at her, still laying down and looking up at the British girl next to him. "Of course I remembered. You're quite a cute drunk, actually. Sober, you just swear a lot so far," he laughed.

Jade covered her face with her hands and flopped back down onto the bed on her back.

"I like swear words, to be honest," she deadpanned, still covering her face with her hands. "But I do other things, too," she said to try to redeem herself in his eyes.

"No, I know. We had a good chat about what you do when you're not drunk in clubs and falling into me," he hit back at her, causing her to snort.

"Shit man, you're kidding? I fucking fell into you?" she groaned, worried about the amount she had fucked up around him. "Hey, haven't you got a race today? What were you doing in a club last night?" she asked, suddenly realising which day it was.

"Yep," he replied. "I was sober the whole time and it was one of our mechanics' birthdays."

"I feel like that was still kind of a bad idea," Jade deadpanned again.

"You know we were back by like 1 AM? I usually can't sleep the night before a race anyway," Daniel replied, reaching for his phone where it was charging on the bedside table.

"Why? Too much Red Bull?" she asked, and laughed at her own joke.

He laughed at her bad joke as well. "Well, not anymore."

"Nerves?"

"Yeah, pretty much," he sighed, hitting Send on the message he had been typing.

"Oh fair. I usually have to throw up before something big." She understood what he was feeling. "Every exam in secondary school, I'd have to go throw up in the loos and everyone thought it was really weird."

"That is a bit weird, though," he countered, chuckling at her. 

"Alright, alright. I see how it is!" She grinned. "Fucking hell, I haven't known your for five minutes and you're already bullying me," she muttered under her breath. 

Dan laughed. "Hardly."

"So when do you need me to clear off?"

"I sorted out a pass for you for the race today," he said, showing her the message from his PR officer.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, not really believing what she was reading. "Fuck right off!"

He just grinned back at her. She had only known him for one night, most of which she was drunk for, but his smile was still incredibly familiar.

"Fuck off," she reiterated.

"I'm being serious. I saw your Senna tattoo and you said last night that you'd never seen a race before," he reminded her of the conversation they had had the night before.

She rubbed the tattoo of her idol's signature on the inside of her forearm and asked: "Are you being for real right now?"

Daniel just nodded at her. He glanced down at the time displayed on his phone screen. "If we want to get to the track on time, we should probably get ready, though."

"Oh shit, I need clothes!" The realisation that she was still in last night's clothes had horrifingly hit her again.

"It's cool. I've organised it. If you can manage to shower here, then we can head to your hotel before the track, so you can get some new jeans or whatever," Dan replied, surprisingly on top of things for 8:30 in the morning.

Daniel hit the showers first, letting her plug her phone into the charger that was annoyingly on his side of the bed. Even while the phone was on 1% Jade tapped out a message to Amy, her best friend that had gotten her into the situation in the first place.

The conversation mainly took place in caps, both being happy that the other was safe, and then both being over the moon that Jade was in a very expensive hotel room and was being treated to a very exclusive experience. 

Daniel came out of the bathroom, his dark curls wet, wearing a pair of black shorts, holding his white towel in his hand. Jade tried very hard to keep her attention only on his face. He tossed her a clean Renault Polo shirt from the suitcase on the floor. Jade caught it and headed into the bathroom, resolving herself to the fact that she would have to use the hotel's complimentary shampoo and conditioner.

When she emerged from the bathroom, dressed in his shirt and last nights blue denim, Daniel was zipping up his suitcase. He had already laid out her clutch bag and shoes on the bed for her. His phone buzzed next to hers on the bedside table and interrupted her viciously towel drying her hair.

"Come on. Ellie's waiting for us."

They headed down in the lift, meeting Ellie, Daniel's PR officer, and Joe, his trainer, in the lobby. The introductions were friendly but they didn't care to talk much to Jade, only asking where she was staying. She didn't mind much. She just shrugged her shoulders, assuming that they had done a similar thing for the other girls Daniel was likely to have brought to his hotel for the night during his Formula One career. What Jade did think was weird was Dan's hand on her back the whole walk to the car.

Joe kept the car idle outside the block of flats she was staying in. And with a stern warning from Daniel that they only had 10 minutes, she dashed to the small studio flat she was renting for the short time she was in Germany. Thanking her lucky stars she had done her laundry a few days ago, she grabbed her blue jeans and shoved them onto her limbs.

In record time, she had a new pair of contact lenses in her eyes and a new coat of mascara on her eyelashes. She emptied her clutch bag into a smaller backpack that she used for work and grabbed her portable charger and charging wire from beside her bed and shoved them into the top of her bag.

She dragged a brush through her hair and added a bit of salt spray to it, just so it didn't look like a bird's home as her hair air-dried throughout the course of the day. A quick glance at her watch as she was shoving her trainers on. She legged it back out the block of flats, almost forgetting to lock her front door.

She joined Dan in the backseat and grinned back at him, accepting the lanyard Ellie passed to her. The drive to the circuit was short, and her and Daniel passed the time discussing their school careers.

It appeared that he was as bad of a student as she had been, except Jade had nailed most of her exams. As Joe parked the car, the butterflies in Jade's stomach went mental and she could hardly contain herself. It was the first Grand Prix she would watch in person and she would be watching it from the back of the Renault Garage.


	2. two

"Why are you making me do this?" Jade groaned, looking at herself in the mirror. She had a full face of makeup on, and she was trying her absolute hardest to resist rubbing at her eyes, despite how much her contact lenses were irritating her. She flopped onto Amy's bed, facing the ceiling and squeezing her eyes shut, hoping for some relief from the irritation.

"Because I've just submitted my thesis and I want to get drunk!" Amy explained to her best friend. "When you submit your Thesis and want to get completely trashed in London, I'll come visit you."

Jade sighed. Amy was completely correct, she would 100% fly to London just to celebrate the ending of her educational career. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't excited to show her best friend the best clubbing spots in London. At this point, she was resigned to her fate.

Amy dabbed on a few last strokes of mascara and Jade finished the rest of the liquid in her wine glass, and Amy's for good measure, and the girls headed to the centre of the city, ready to hit the town, their pre-mixed beverages in plastic water bottles. About halfway there, Jade started to regret not eating before she had arrived at Amy's.

They were in lively spirits as they headed into the first bar on their stop and met up with some of their other friends. The drinks flowed very freely. Even for a Saturday night, they were definitely the most lively group there. They all saw each other nearly every day at the university where they all worked but that didn't stand in the way of how much they could catch up on each other's lives, even if they had just seen each other a few hours ago.

***

Daniel and a handful of Renault mechanics were stood in a small cluster by the bar. They were mainly from Daniel's side of the garage and they were all there to celebrate John's birthday. He was turning 30 and in some effort to make him feel 20 again, they had come to the almost unanimous decision to go out for drinks.

Daniel and Joe weren't particularly convinced at the idea, especially as everyone had a rather important job to do the next day but they had been overruled on the promise that no-one would go overboard tonight.

A few quiet drinks were all that had been promised. Daniel was under close supervision by Joe who was only letting zero-calorie soft drinks into his driver's hand. John offered the next round and thrust a bottle of beer into Dan's hand. Joe was on it as fast as lightning, pulling it out of Daniel's hand, only to be met with some very dirty looks from Daniel and John. 

"Mate, come on! It's my birthday!" John said, his words only slightly slurred. 

Joe sighed, half expecting the puppy dog eyes Dan was trying out on him. He gave the sweating bottle back to Daniel, and cautioned him: "Only this one."

Daniel grinned and sipped from the bottle. He could manage with just one. It was more than he was usually allowed on a race Saturday. 

A loud group of laughter on the other side of the room caused the whole group to look down to where it was coming from. A group similar in size to theirs was ordering shots and laughing at one girl with dark hair as she downed them all.

Daniel thought it was a bit weird, then assumed it must have been a dare or something. She slammed the last glass down on the tabletop, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and raised her hands up over her head. She shouted out to her friends but Daniel couldn't quite make out the words over the rest of the noise in the bar and settled just for watching them.

He watched her stand up, her phone and wallet in her hand as she made her way to the bar. She was staggering a little but that could've been down to the heels she was wearing, rather than the amount of alcohol she had just consumed.

She came and stood by the bar, next to Daniel, not really noticing him, despite him being stood right next to her at the side of the bar where only he and the rest of his group were. She placed her order with the bartender as she was attempting to take a selfie, and spontaneously fell right into Daniel.


	3. three

Jade felt a bit out of place at the back of Daniel's side of the garage. She had met Nico Hulkenberg, and he was certainly as good looking in person as he was in the photos she'd seen of him. They had a quick chat before he and Daniel were rushed off for the drivers' parade. Daniel gave her bum a parting squeeze and kissed her on the cheek, instructing Joe to look after her.

Jade watched the footage of the drivers' parade while sat on Daniel's seat at the back of the garage, lost in her thoughts and not really paying attention to the interviews being conducted. She was constantly being surprised by Daniel's actions. He had invited her to the race, kept his hand on her back everywhere they walked together and had even kissed her on the cheek when he left.

She started racking her brain for what she had said to him the night before. Usually, when she was drunk, she droned on and on about her job and the work she was doing at the university but Daniel couldn't possibly think she was that great for being a medical assistant, could he? Unless she was just that amazing in bed. She chuckled out loud at that thought and Joe looked at her from where he was sorting out some of Daniel's stuff on the table next to her.

"Something funny?" he asked her, tipping his head to one side.

Jade chuckled again. "Nah, I was just laughing at my own jokes," she replied.

"That's fair," he replied. "You're British?" he asked, noticing her accent.

"Yeah," she replied.

"What are you doing all the way out here in Germany?" he asked, curious at why a 20-something was in a foreign country.

"I'm doing some research for my Doctorate," she replied.

"Oh, that's cool. What in?" he asked, half-surprised that she wasn't on a journey to try and discover herself.

"It's in medical crisis response and management," she explained.

His confusion turned to an understanding. "So what does that mean? Telling Doctors to go there and nurses to go there?" he asked, gesturing left and right with his arms as he spoke.

"Um... Not quite," she replied and added: "It's more about the best ways of treating patients who have really bad injuries caused by crisis incidents."

She went into a little more detail and Joe was actually genuinely interested in her research. They were discussing her work in Germany when Daniel arrived back with Ellie. The driver and his PR officer wore matching confused expressions as Jade drew diagrams on a piece of paper while Joe was asking questions about them.

"What are you two talking about?" Daniel asked as she stood behind her and placed a hand on her waist and kissed her cheek.

"Oh, I was just explaining my Thesis to Joe," Jade replied, her cheeks warming up, both from being caught geeking out about flies and from being kissed on the cheek by the driver.

"As interesting as this is, Dan, we need to prep you," Joe said, handing Daniel his water bottle.

Jade followed the two men to the Renault motorhome and took in the experience of walking down the F1 paddock, an experience she never thought she'd have. Safely tucked up on the couch in Daniel's room, she scrolled through Twitter and replied to her friends' messages they had sent her after she notified them of what happened in the car on the way to the circuit.

She kept looking up as Daniel was doing his weird stretches. She was enjoying his facial expressions. He disappeared for a little while before he changed into his race suit for a meeting with his engineers. While he was off doing that, Jade finished off a few emails for work and against her better judgement, typed Daniels name into Twitter, wanting to see what people were saying.

There were a few papped photos of the group of them walking in this morning and Jade was happy to see that in all the photos, her face was relatively obscured by her hair and that no one had said anything about the new girl walking in with Daniel and his team. Before long, the door to the room opened, and Daniel and Joe arrived back in the room.

Joe was juggling two plates of spaghetti in his hands. He passed one to her and gave the other one to Daniel as he joined her on the couch. Joe left the room as she and Dan sat in silence on the couch.

"Do you ever get nervous?" she asked him.

Dan smiled into his plate. "If anyone tells you they don't get nervous, they're lying," he said. "We are risking our lives every time we get in those cars."

He didn't need to say it but Jade knew he was thinking of Jules. She rubbed the Senna tattoo on her arm as they sat quietly.

"I saw your tattoo for him on your leg," Dan said turning towards her. "I like it."

Jade smiled. "Thank you."

They finished eating in silence and Daniel grabbed both of their plates and put them in a little pile on the floor. He double-checked his watch and was happy that there was still another 10 minutes before he had to get into his fireproofs.

He shuffled up closer to Jade and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in for a kiss and she made no attempt to resist him. The 10 minutes passed quickly and soon enough, Dan peeled himself away from Jade, giving her a peck on the lips before he stood up and changed into his fireproofs in front of her.

Jade was trying her best to peel her eyes away from him but was ultimately very unsuccessful in that endeavour. Daniel caught her looking and flashed her a grin, giving her a show wiggling his hips as he pulled his undershirt on.

Joe appeared as Dan was putting his cap on and the three of them proceeded to the garage, Daniel and Joe engaged in a short conversation while walking.

Jade was left speechless when Sebastian Vettel suddenly walked past her. She started walking backwards, her eyes glued on the German in red, flanked on both sides by various Ferrari staff members. Daniel called her name softly and she turned back to face him, catching up with the tall Aussie.

Jade perched once again in Daniel's seat at the back of the garage. She was watching him and Joe do a reflex activity with a few tennis balls, bouncing them off the floor at each other and catching them in one hand. She was amazed that they hadn't dropped them or that her clumsy self hadn't somehow attracted one of the bright green balls to smack her in the face yet.

Before long, Dan was running through some numbers with one of his engineers and was almost ready to put his helmet on and get in the car and head to the grid. He joined her at the back of the garage. The views of them were obscured from the cameras by the wall of mechanics fiddling about with something on the rear wing of his car.

"A kiss for good luck?" he asked her mischievously. Jade glanced nervously at the cameraman at the front of the garage. "Just a peck," he added, noticing her eye ine.

Jade nodded and stood in front of him. Their lips met for the briefest of moments and she pressed her lips together, savouring the feeling of his lips on hers. He grinned at her and she smiled back. It was impossible not to.

He pulled the balaclava over his head and pulled his helmet on after, adjusting it using the gap for his eyes and nose. Jade stood on her tiptoes and kissed his helmet under his eye hole, guessing that was where his lips would be. The crow's feet by his eyes deepened and she could picture the grin on his face as he turned away from her and stepped into the car.

The mechanics were swarming around him to plug his radio in, belt him into his seat and have a few last words before he made his way out of the garage. The car engine fired up, the tyre blankets were removed and the dolly keeping the car off the ground was wheeled out from underneath.

The mechanics backed away from the car and Daniel pulled out of the garage. Jade usually got nervous before a race but watching Daniel drive out the garage was a different experience. Her heartbeat was a little harder than normal in her chest as Joe handed her a pair of headphones, similar to the ones all the pit wall mechanics were wearing, except hers didn't have a microphone.

She snapped the device over her ears and soon enough, the crackle of the radio filtered through. Sam, Daniel's race engineer, was performing a radio check that consisted of him and his driver repeating random phrases to each other. Soon enough, Daniel was pulling into his spot on the grid and Jade was watching the live footage of him getting out of his car on the screen mounted to the wall.

She was thoroughly enjoying being able to soak up the atmosphere in the garage. The members of the pit crew were all in their fireproofs and were filling the floor of the garage with fold-up chairs facing the same TV screen she was watching.

She smiled the widest she had done in a long time, being able to be completely immersed in the sport she had loved since she was a child. She watched the flurry of activity in the garage as the damp mechanics ran back into the garage after the cars departed for their formation lap, and she listened in on Sam and Daniel's conversation about the rain and the state of the track.

Jade found herself very torn watching the race. She silently cheered along with the rest of the Renault staff members whenever either Daniel or Nico got an overtake to stick. When the smoke started pouring out the back of Daniel's car, Jade buried her face in her hands.

She watched on the screens as Dan stopped the car on the side of the track and got out, taking care to replace the steering wheel. He kept his helmet on, refusing to remove it until he was back in the garage, away from the telescopic lenses that were more than capable of catching his face sans its usual smile.

Jade watched as he all but ripped his helmet and balaclava off his head. He looked at her as he took his gloves off, stuffing them into the recess of his helmet. He jabbed his head towards the exit way at the end of the garage. Jade took the headphones off her head and left them on the table his helmet was on as she followed the Australian out of the garage.

He stopped halfway down the corridor that was connecting the back of the garage to the office rooms and turned on his heel to face the girl he had invited to join him for the weekend. He placed one hand on her cheek, the tip of his little finger grazing the top of her ear, his other hand knotting itself into her already tangled hair at the base of her skull.

He pulled her face towards his, forcing her onto her tiptoes. Jade involuntarily breathed in, preparing herself for his warm lips. Her hands braced herself on his body, one hand on his shoulder, the other gripping the portion of the zipper on his toned stomach.

He kissed her with an urgency she had never felt in a kiss before and she responded. Nothing at that moment in time mattered more than his lips on hers and his hands in her hair. They only pulled away when they heard Ellie's heels clicking on the floor, heading down the corridor towards them.

They rested their foreheads on each other and panted, looking at each other. He looked up at Ellie and sighed, knowing he'd have to face the media frenzy now. He caught Jade's hand in his and lead her to the motorhome. He had to change and collect himself before he had to answer the same questions over and over again.


	4. Chapter 4

Strong arms wrapped around Jade, her ankle randomly gave out. It was the shoes. She could kill Amy for basically causing this by insisting Jade wore much too high heels for the night. "Oh my god," she said to her, the only person standing between her and death by embarrassment.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. His voice had a bit of an accent but her mind was a bit too clouded to think of where it could come from. She gripped onto the counter, in addition to him, and stabilised herself on her own feet.

"Yeah, I think so," she said. "Shit," she muttered, noticing her phone on the floor. Daniel leaned down to pick it up for her and passed it to her. She turned it over and the screen lit up to showcase a looping video of a close-up of her face as she fell into Daniel. The pair of them collapsed into laughter at the video. Jade almost fell over again but Dan's hands steadied her on her waist.

She looked at him properly for the first time since coming over to the bar and tipped her head to the side, recognising his face but not really sure where from. Daniel expected her to say something about who he was then but was very pleasantly surprised when she turned back to the bar and handed the money over to the bartender.

"Are you in town for the F1?" she asked him.

Daniel chuckled: "Yeah, actually. I'll be there tomorrow."

"That's cool!" she said, a bit jealous of him now. "I grew up watching F1 but I've never been to a race," she told him.

"How come?" he asked.

Jade shrugged.

"Stuff just happens," she said dismissively, not really wanting to get into it. "What are you guys doing for the rest of the night?" she asked as some of her friends came over, wanting to know why their drinks were taking so long.

"Jade, for god's sake, if you want to chat up cute guys at the bar, just say so! Don't hold our drinks hostage, though," Amy said. The blonde girl came over to Jade, her hand gripping onto her boyfriend Seb's arm.

Daniel smiled at the blonde girl's remark and Jade just sighed.

"Take your bloody drinks and go," she said, handing Amy a glass of pink beverage. Seb laughed and grabbed the bottles of beer as well as one of the pitchers resting on the countertop.

"Hurry back with the other pitcher," Seb reminded Jade. "It's not all for you."

Jade responded by drinking out the top of the pitcher. She licked her lips. "Get your own, Seb."

Daniel laughed at her. Seb looked at him and opened his mouth in recognition but closed it when Daniel caught the look on his face and shook his head gently. Seb nodded and guided Amy back to their friends at the table.

"So?" Jade pressed because Daniel still hadn't answered her question.

"I think we're just staying here," he replied.

Jade huffed, "So boring, oh my god," she said. "Come with us!" she insisted.

Joe, who had been stood next to Daniel, cut in. "We really can't," he said firmly, knowing that if Dan had it his way, he'd agree to go with her in a heartbeat.

Jade rolled her eyes at him and Daniel laughed as they shared a look. She hopped up onto a barstool beside him and picked a straw from the holder on the countertop. She unwrapped it and placed in the shimmering purple liquid. She gave it a little mix, took a sip, and offered it to Daniel who shook his head.

Amy and Seb were sat back at the table, watching Jade and her new friend at the bar.

"They look quite cute," Amy said to Seb in her native German. He nodded in agreement. She rested her head on his shoulder and intertwined their hands together on his lap. "I don't mind being ditched by her for that," she said softly.

Seb looked down at his girlfriend and pecked her quickly on the lips. The group on the table finished their drinks and they left the bar, leaving Jade with Daniel at the bar.

As Jade's friends left, the bar suddenly got very quiet but neither Daniel or Jade noticed, both too caught up in their conversation to care.


	5. Chapter 5

Jade lay in bed. It was the same bed she had slept in for the last year. The only difference now was that Daniel Riccardo had just left it to go and fetch the Chinese takeout from the building's front door.

Amy, her best friend who had convinced her to go out on Saturday night, had not let up texting her since Jade had sent her a sneaky photo from the back of the Renault garage on Sunday. She wasn't surprised that Jade was still with Daniel. Amy had been significantly less drunk than Jade at the time she had literally run into Daniel at the club.

Daniel returned with the bag of Chinese food and Jade looked over to the front door where the relatively tall Australian was juggling the two bags of food. He kicked the door shut behind him and Jade reluctantly left the comfort of her warm bed to clear some space on the round circular dining table in the corner of the room. The clearing process pretty much consisted of Jade tossing textbooks and filled notebooks on the floor onto a pile that was already there.

"Plates?" Daniel asked.

Jade joined him in the small kitchen area of her flat and opened one of the bottom cupboards for him while she counted out forks and knives and serving spoons. She popped the stack of colourful cutlery on the tabletop and took a seat in front of the blue plate Daniel had set down for her.

The pair of them hadn't realised how hungry they were and the takeout food was utterly demolished in the next 20 minutes. They stayed at the table for a bit longer, snacking on prawn crackers and talking about each of their jobs.

Jade wasn't technically employed but she very much enjoyed talking about her PhD work. She loved the research she was doing for the year in Germany and Daniel liked hearing her talk about something she was so passionate about. Jade avoided asking questions about the race today because he had answered enough of them from the media circus. She instead asked about how much he loved fulfilling his dream job.

They were sat at the dinner table as the sun went down, not that you could see it past the thick dark clouds, and soon headed back to the bed to watch Netflix on Jade's laptop.

They were halfway through a film when Jade realised he had another race the next weekend. "Hey, don't you need to go to Hungary?" she asked him, confused about why he was still in Germany with her.

"Yeah. I'll sort out a flight tomorrow evening or something," he replied, pausing the film, determined not to miss anything while they were chatting.

"Shouldn't you have left tonight?" Jade asked because she had seen from Max's Instagram that the other drivers had left on a plane together that evening.

"Yeah but I kinda wanted to spend more time with you," Daniel replied.

Jade's cheeks heated up and she got out of bed, murmuring something about how she needed to change into her pyjamas. She grabbed a pair of PJ bottoms and a random oversized top from her wardrobe and ducked into the bathroom to change.

She washed her face, trying to tame the redness threatening to overwhelm her face and bit her lip as she looked at herself in the mirror. Daniel had actually decided to wait a day before heading to the next race, specially so he could spend more time with her. What exactly had she told him that night they first met?

Daniel sat back in the bed, watching the girl he really didn't want to leave in Germany dash off into the bathroom. He knew she couldn't remember anything that had happened the night they first met and he was fine with that.

It was just weird watching her adopt an almost different personality when certain topics ended up being discussed. He already knew the answers but she was still very closed off with him. And after hearing what he told her, he didn't blame her. He really wished that she'd be able to come and join him in Budapest but she had work to do and he understood where she was coming from.

He sent off a message to Ellie, confirming that he would be flying out the following evening. He knew she was a bit annoyed at him, especially as a whole host of interviews and media duties now needed to be rescheduled. He didn't really mind, though. Being busy all weekend was worth being able to be in Jade's company for an extra day.

Jade exited the bathroom, the hair around her face a little wet but her cheeks no longer bright red. She rejoined Daniel in the bed, sitting carefully on her side of it, her legs tucked underneath her. She wasn't that comfortable but she had decided to sit that way, so now she had to deal with it.

She smiled at him and leaned forward to press play on the film. They both sat in silence, the air hanging a bit weirdly in the room. Both of them were feeling a bit awkward. Neither one was really sure what to say following Daniel's comment and Jade's hasty escape to the bathroom. 

Dan wanted to kick himself. He didn't often feel this comfortable with someone else and if she were any other girl, he wouldn't be losing any sleep about having to leave her in his hotel room the next morning. But Jade and Daniel hadn't done anything close to what he usually did with other girls on race weekends. He didn't postpone flights for them and he didn't invite them to a race with them, either.

The film ended late, and Jade and Daniel lay in bed facing each other. The conversation drifted to family and Daniel was telling Jade about his upbringing in Perth.

"You miss it," Jade said, thinking it was very noticeable in the way he spoke.

The Australian nodded. "There's no place like home," he sighed. "It's great, being able to see the world and get to do the job I love but it sucks not being able to spend as much time at home."

Jade nodded. She missed London as well. Germany was great but it wasn't really homely. Then again, she hadn't felt at home anywhere for a long time. "There's nothing like it, is there?" she said wistfully.

"Where's home for you?" Daniel asked, remembering a portion of one of their older conversations.

"Um... Probably London," Jade said.

Daniel noticed how she avoided looking at him as she said it, rolling onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. It was the same way she behaved when he asked her about her family earlier. She tried to look at anything but him.

The only thing she freely discussed with him about her life before university was her school career and that was only because she was rubbing in how much better she had done in school than he had. Then again, that was to be expected, considering she had a degree in medicine and was currently in Germany learning about crisis response. She was insanely smart.

"Are you tired?" she asked him, turning her head to look at him after he was silent for a moment, lost in his own thoughts.

Daniel had just been watching her and shook himself out of his mind. "A little," he replied. "I always get tired after a race."

"I can imagine," she said softly, almost whispering. She reached for the switch controlling the twinkly lights on her bed frame and turned them off. The lack of soft orangey glow plunged the room into darkness.

The pair of them settled down into the bed and before Daniel could stop himself, he reached out and pulled Jade closer to him. His chest pressed against her back. Her breath caught in her throat and she stiffened, unsure whether or not to pull away.

She breathed out a long breath slowly and relaxed, melting into the Australian's warm embrace. His hand rested on her stomach and her cold hand rested on top of it. Usually, she slept with a hot water bottle but with Daniel behind her, she didn't need to.

The racing driver was always warm. He smelled nice, too. Jade wasn't sure if it was his cologne or just him but the scents filling her nose were sweet and almost musky. It was a smell she could certainly get used to. Especially because he smelled comforting, like a welcoming hug. Like she was home.


	6. Chapter 6

Dan's hands had hardly left her waist all night, mainly because she kept almost falling off her stool. If it wasn't for Dan, Jade would've been on the floor a long time ago, and probably would've developed about ten different bruises up and down her legs.

She hadn't laughed like that for a long time. She wasn't even annoyed that her friends had left her in the bar with a stranger because she was having such a good time. And anyway, Amy had her on Find My Friends and she knew the bartender as well.

Dan hadn't clicked this well with a girl at a race weekend. Ever. Even though she was drunk and could hardly stand up, she still spoke as though she was sober, albeit very distracted by almost everything.

From the conversation they were having at the bar, he was very impressed by her. She had a biomedicine degree and throughout uni, had worked in a trauma unit at a hospital. All he did was drive a car around in a circle.

"You look really familiar," Jade said, interrupting her own sentence about how her gin cocktail in her pitcher was sparkly and insisting that Dan looked at the sparkles.

Dan looked up at her as she was staring at him, trying to piece together where she had seen him before. "I just have one of those faces," he replied, grinning at her.

"Everyone has a face," she said, and reached out to poke the dimple in his cheek that came out when he smiled, which was very often. "You have a very nice face," she said, and took both of his cheeks in between her palms and squeezed them together towards his lips, giggling at the face she had made him make.

Dan laughed along with her, taking her hands in his. "Your hands are so cold," he said. They were like little ice blocks in between his significantly warmer hands.

"I lack a heart, so I can't pump nice warm blood around my body," she said, still giggling as she spoke.

"I don't believe that," he said, watching her lean towards the straw poking out of her jug of drink and taking a sip.

"You only just met me, darrrrling," she said, dragging it out, and hopped off the barstool. "I'm hungry," she said, freeing one hand from his to grab her bag off the bar top. She pulled him off his stool with the other hand. She stumbled and Dan put his other hand back on her waist, helping to steady the Brit.

Jade flicked her hair over her shoulder, whipping Daniel in the face lightly and she walked carefully out of the bar, leading him towards her favourite corner shop. It was her favourite purely because they were open late and they had a bakery section that was stocked at all times of the day and night.


	7. Chapter 7

Daniel usually enjoyed his media duties but this weekend, they were becoming very tedious. His mind was constantly on his phone and on the girl he had met in Germany. He could feel the buzz of his phone in his shorts pocket and all he wanted to do was check it to see what Jade was saying.

His answers to every question were very short today. He couldn't be bothered to answer the actual question or pay lip service to the journalists. He was embracing his inner Kimi and was enjoying it.

No wonder the Finn decided to answer questions the way he did. You didn't need to bother thinking about what you were actually saying. Ellie coughed from behind the camera and he caught her disapproving glare. He sighed, pulled his thoughts away from Jade and her dark hair, and back to the strengths of himself and the car at the Hungaroring.

The Interview finished and Ellie walked back with him to the motorhome. She was unusually quiet but Daniel didn't really care much as he was in the middle of a pun battle with Jade over WhatsApp.

Daniel relaxed on the sofa in his room and Ellie sat beside him, not sure whether to pull the phone out from his hand or not. Dan started chuckling at the phone screen and she simply reached over and took it from him.

"The fuck?" he asked her.

"You have work to do," she deadpanned, dropping his phone into her handbag. "Once you've finished, you can have it back."

"I'm not a five-year-old," Daniel protested, sitting up.

Ellie handed him a stack of postcards of his face to sign and said: "Look, I get it. She's pretty and you like her. But she's just another girl from the road. You'll be off again soon and she won't like that and she'll stop talking to you."

She spoke gently but firmly, adding: "You're like a brother to me and I don't want you getting hurt by her."

Dan stayed silent, ignoring what Ellie just said. He knew that his connection with Jade went deeper than just a weekend and that was all that mattered. He grabbed a Sharpie from the table in front of him and started inking his signature on the cards.

"Look, Dan..." Ellie started. "I know you think she's different but she hardly looked at you. She isn't worth all this," she said, gesturing around the room.

"Ellie, no offence but it's none of your business," he said shortly, not looking up from the table.

Ellie sighed and stood up. She watched for a few seconds as he finished a few more signatures and walked out the door. She had emails to reply to but she sure as hell wasn't going to get them done there while Dan and her were apparently in a mood with each other. She could get them done down in the hospitality area instead. With a coffee. That sounded nice.

Daniel sat back on the sofa after the door slammed shut. Luckily for him, Ellie had left her handbag by the side of the sofa and even though his mother had raised him to know that going through someone else's possessions was wrong, it was _his_ phone in her bag.

Before he could think again, he dove across the sofa and retrieved it. He heard Ellie's heeled footsteps outside the door and he shoved the phone under his thigh and carried on signing the cards laid out in front of him. He didn't look up when Ellie entered to retrieve her bag.

The door closed and Daniel pressed the button on the side to light up the phone screen. He had two new messages, one from Jade and the other from his mother. He sat back and texted both of them for a little while before coming to the conclusion that he should be finishing the postcards.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Ellie was right. He couldn't put Jade first over work. He sighed and put pen to paper again, playing some music on his phone while he did so.

***

Jade had to keep putting her phone down as she sat behind her laptop screen at the university. She and Amy had a paper due in and even though Amy had finished her Thesis, they still had assignments to do.

They were in the library with enough food on the table to last them several weeks and enough books piled up to build a house for the pair of them. Every time Jade's phone buzzed on the table, Amy shot her a scathing look. The dark haired girl smiled sheepishly at her friend and tapped out a reply before replacing it on the tabletop.

"Are you ever going to write this essay?" Amy asked as Jade typed out a message on her phone yet again.

Jade smiled at her friend and checked the word count at the bottom of the screen. "I'm at 1500," she said. Only 500 more words to go.

"What the..." the blonde swore softly in German. "How?" she asked in English.

"I already planned most of it ages ago. I just need to find references and stuff now," Jade replied, scrolling through a list of journals and articles on her laptop's web browser. She clicked through a few links but before she could start reading, Daniel caused her phone to buzz on the desk again. She picked it up and replied, avoiding Amy's eyes.

"You really like him?" Amy asked. Every time Jade had picked up her phone to reply to the Australian, a smile crossed her face and the stress that they were both feeling from this assignment vanished from her face.

Jade didn't answer and scrolled to read the conclusion of one of the articles on her laptop.

"It's obvious," Amy insisted, ignoring the fact that Jade had blanked her last sentence.

"It doesn't matter. He'll get bored soon," Jade replied, not looking away from her computer screen but also not really looking at it, either.

"I don't think so," Amy said, closing her laptop screen. "What are you so scared of?"

Jade sat back in her chair and looked across the desk at her blonde friend. "I'm not scared," she said adamantly. "He's a bloody F1 driver. Trust me, he'll get bored by the weekend. He'll meet someone new on tomorrow or Sunday and he won't be texting me any more."

Amy scoffed. "I doubt it. No one who picks a girl up almost every weekend doesn't text one girl for almost a whole week. You guys met on Saturday and you literally haven't stopped texting since he left on Monday night. Trust me. If he met someone else already, he would've stopped. It's already Friday," Amy said. She had lots of experience with a boy who didn't care at all about the girls in his life.

Jade sighed. "I doubt it, man, I don't know what world you live in," she said, looking back to her laptop screen now. "And anyway, it never ends well for anyone when I like someone."

"Come on. That was literally one time," Amy replied, thinking back to Jade's previous relationship. It had taken ages for Jade to tell Amy about her only serious relationship. Even then, they had been back at Amy's after a night out midway through the year.

To Amy, Jade was one of her best friends. As soon as they had met in September, they had got on like a house of fire. They were almost always joined at the hip unless Jade had to disappear off on her own for a few days or unless Amy was with Seb.

Amy had no secrets with Jade. She knew everything, from the time Amy had a bathroom accident at school when she was ten up to the gifts Amy was getting for Jade at Christmas or her birthday. But Jade was a closed book.

She hardly talked about herself or her childhood or her family. She didn't say a word about why she spent days out in the woods walking alone, even when Amy would go mad with worry when she wouldn't hear from Jade for most of the day. The only explanation she'd give was that she needed to clear her head or had family stuff going on.

Jade shrugged, not wanting to think about the possibility of Daniel liking her. Her phone buzzed once more and instead of responding, she turned her phone to airplane mode and started typing on her laptop, dead set on finishing her essay before she left to go home that evening.

***

Daniel frowned at his phone screen. He was about to jump into his car for the second practice session but he didn't really want to pull his helmet on. He and Jade had been conversing for the last hour and a half over text and each reply was prompt, within a minute or a few minutes at the very least.

All of a sudden, though, Jade had stopped replying. She had mentioned earlier that she had been writing an essay and Daniel figured that she was probably focusing on that but he had just thought of a pun she might enjoy and it was still early days, so he didn't really want to double text.

But then, Jade had been double texting the whole week, so surely it was okay to double text this once. His frown deepened. One of his mechanics tapped him on the shoulder and Dan had to make the decision sharpish.

He sighed, tapped out the pun into the text bar and hit send. He left his phone on the stand at the back of the garage next to his water bottle and pulled his helmet on over his balaclava. He looked back at his phone, unlocked it, opened up Snapchat and sent a slightly blurry selfie to Jade.

His mechanic coughed again behind him and Daniel finally put his phone down and got into the car, having missed about five minutes of FP2 to message Jade.

***

Jade sighed. She had packed up the last of her stuff that she was taking back in her little car to London. Her, Amy and Seb made the last trip down the three flights of stairs to pack up the final few bits in her car.

"Don't forget me!" the words fell out of Amy's mouth at the same time the tears started welling up in her eyes.

"As if I could," Jade said into her ear as she hugged her blonde friend. She'd be back soon. She actually really enjoyed the long drive from London to Germany. She did it in 2 days, stopping for one night at a little hotel she liked in France. The next time she needed a break from London, she'd simply hit the road in her little hatchback and visit Amy.

She gave Seb a hug as well. She gave Amy a second squeeze, seeing the blonde's distraught face and then she was in the driver's seat, starting the engine and heading off down the road, following the instructions of her phones sat-nav and listening to her entire shuffled music library.


	8. Chapter 8

"Fuck sake" Dan groaned, sat on a bench at an airport. He was trying to send a text to Jade asking her on a date but he couldn't think of the right words. If he typed out another message and deleted it, he would throw his phone across the room.

Joe sighed, noticing how frustrated the usually calm Australian was, and took it from his hand and typed out a message, and before Dan could stop him, Joe hit send, and passed his phone back.

Dan groaned, seeing the message Joe had sent. "Why would you do that?" he asked, staring at the message sent from his phone on the green background.

"Because you weren't going to send anything. were you?" Joe replied. "She's nice and you'd have fucked it up, if I left you to it." The Airport announcement called the boarding message for their flight, "Come on," Joe tapped Dan on the thigh, and they proceeded to the priority boarding sign, Dan desperately refreshing the messaging app, hoping that Jade would reply before he got on the plane and he couldn't get a reply for the next 3-ish hours.

The flight was relaxed, it was almost the start of the summer break, He just had a few simulator sessions at the factory, and then he was free to spend the next month however he wanted. While still working out almost everyday, and sticking to the strict meal plan that Joe had prepared for him. He was ready to relax, but also very ready to take Jade on a date. Providing she said yes. He really hoped shed say yes.

The second the Planes wheels hit the tarmac, and the plane slowed down enough that he wasn't being pressed back against his seat, Daniel turned his phone off aeroplane mode, and opened up whatsapp. Hoping Jade had replied.

She had. She had sent 3 laughing and crying emojis, and said 'yes!'. Dan almost punched the air, but settled for smiling at his phone screen to confirm when to pick her up that evening. The only thing now, was that he had to plan the bloody date.

***

"NOPE!!" She yelled, standing a little ways back from her laptop and spinning on her heels to show Amy in the laptop the outfit she was wearing. Daniel was picking Jade up in less than an hour, and she still hadn't decided on an outfit to wear. Amy was doing her best to reassure Jade that she looked beautiful, but the very stressed dark haired girl wasn't having any of it. She was very close to ripping out her immaculately curled hair. She looked at herself in the mirror on the wall, and deduced she looked nothing like herself in the blue sundress and silver sandals she paired with it.

"Ames man, I don't look like meee" She whined throwing herself on the floor in front of her laptop and resisting the urge to rub her eyes and undo her 2 hours of eyeshadow blending on her eyelid. "I just want to wear jeans and my jacket!" She threw herself back on the floor and looked at her beaten up Doc boots sitting beside her bed. You could almost hear the ding sign, and see the little lightbulb light up above her head. Jade bolted upright, much to Amy's amusement, and she darted around her room, grabbing bit and bobs. She assembled them all as she sat on her bed, away from Amy's viewpoint from the floor, and once she was ready, she debuted the outfit to her best friend.

"Now that's more you," Amy approved.

Jade was still wearing the sundress, but had a black leather jacket covering her shoulders and arms, and her legs were bare, showing off the black inky designs under her skin, and her feet were clad in her black Doc boots, with a pair of neon blue socks peaking out over the top. She spun on her heel and was finally pleased with the outfit.

The doorbell chimed and Jade whispered "Shit," diving for her laptop and ignoring Amy's plea's to not end the call, pressed the red button. she closed the lid, and tossed the laptop on the bed. She looked around her messy room, and decided she didn't have enough time to shove things out of sight and instead opted to close the door on the mess.

Dan's heart was beating a little harder in his chest than usual as he waited for Jade to answer the door. He had told her to dress up a little, but still be comfy, and she had replied in her usual style he and found out which was just emojis. This time it was the thumbs up and the little half smile one.

Jade opened the door, slightly breathless as she had ended up having to tuck things out of sight under her sofa, and throw some dishes in her sink. Dan was wearing a white button up shirt that was covered in little swirly black designs and he had on a pair of dark skinny jeans. The leather jacket he had on looked very similar to hers for some reason. Neither of them greeted each other, and rather both confronted the jacket choice.

"Is that Top man?" they asked at the exact same time.

Jade laughed, "Yeah, I prefer them a bit bigger, they're more comfy and I like the fit more too."

Dan nodded, "Makes sense." He laughed again, the coincidence that they were wearing the exact same jacket was a little strange. The chuckling died out, and Daniel quickly asked if she was ready to go.

She nodded, turned back to grab her bag and keys and they headed out side to the car Daniel was driving for the duration of his time in the UK. Jade raised her eyebrows as he unlocked the silver Audi, and Dan shrugged. "I don't get to chose what rental I'm given."

Jade chuckled, and slid into the passenger seat, dropping her little black backpack on the floor by her feet. "So what's the plan?" She asked Daniel she they buckled themselves in.

He started the car, and pulled out of the parking spot. "All will be revealed.." HE grinned at her, and tore off down the road, definitely not sticking to the 30miles per hour speed limit. As they got reaccustomed to each others company during the drive, and Daniels very jerky braking at red lights, the conversation flowed much easier, discussing everything form terrible drivers on the road, to a small debate about how bad of a driver Dan was on the road, compared to on the track.

Dan appeared to be driving completely out of the city, they hit the motorway, and he hardly left the fast lane on the right side of the motorway, the needle on the speedometer very far over the limit. Jades knuckled went white, from how much she was clutching the seat, and Dan just looked over and laughed at her. The lines by his eyes deepened, and he had some trouble holding back his amusement at the girl beside him.

"Scared?" he asked her, still laughing as he asked.

Jade didn't quite trust her voice to break, and opted to just nod at Dan. Dan laughed, and checked behind his shoulder as he guided the car across the 3 lanes and onto the slip road. The car rolled to a stop at the traffic lights at the end of the road and jade let out the breath she didn't realise she had been holding. Dan was almost in hysterics at this point. He couldn't stop laughing and almost missed the green light he was laughing so hard.

"You know that isn't that fast for me?" he asked her, when he had calmed down enough to get words out.

"I know! But its different watching it and then going that fast," Jade explained, letting go of the seat to lightly slap Dan on the arm.

Dan glanced back at her, his smile still firmly in place, "Sorry," the smile on his face was a half guilty half mischievous as the needle rose on the dashboard as he bombed down the small county road.

Jade quickly realised that traveling at this speed would certainly be the norm with Daniel.

Dan pulled into a spot in a little field.

"No way," Jade whispered.

"yes, way,"

Jade turned to the Australian and grinned. "A drive in cinema?"

Dan nodded, the smile making another reappearance.

The brunette laughed, and hit dan on the arm again. "I can't believe you thought of this!"

Dan reached behind her seat and pulled out a Tesco carrier bag filled with filled with snacks. "I couldn't find that sparkly gin though," He said, as he passed her a packet of doritos.

"Omg no way," the next thing he pulled out was a bottle of parma violet gin, closely followed by a 2 litre bottle of lemonade. He reached behind his own seat, and pulled out some glasses - actual glasses, with gold paint on the rims. Jades jaw dropped and she started chuckling. hardly able to believe that lengths Dan had gone to for their date.

Dan asked Jade to hold the glasses as he poured a generous amount of gin into one of the glasses, before topping both glasses up with lemonade. He was driving after all.

A retro black and white countdown clicked down on the projector screen in front of them, and they cracked open the snacks and dan tuned the Radio of the car to the station needed for the films audio. The opening credits to Baby Driver started and Jade turned to openly stare at the Australian next to her.

"Did i tell you baby driver was my favourite film?" she asked him, not remembering ever having such a conversation with the driver.

"You did actually," Dan said, meeting her eyes. "You were beyond pissed though, I'm not surprised you don't remember," he chuckled as the opening chords to Blues explosion filled the car. Jade grinned back, and reclined her seat, propping her feet up on the dash. Dan opened his mouth to say something, then realised it was a rental, and that he didn't really care about it that much. He pushed his own seat back, and got settled in for the film, looking over at Jade and smiling before he did so.


	9. Chapter 9

The film credits rolled over the screen, and Jade turned to Dan, the smile wide on her face. "Thank you!"

Dan shook his head, readjusting his seat, smiled back at the girl in his passenger seat. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," he paused. "you did enjoy it?"

Jade laughed, "Yes of Course!" She started putting all the snacks back into the carrier bag Daniel brought with him.

She finished the rest of the liquid in her glass, and put back in the bag behind Dan's seat as he guided them out oft he field and back onto the motorway, heading back towards the city.

"Are you still hungry?" He asked her, glancing over at her. She looked more at ease as he drove in the fast lane again, more comfortable with the speed he was at.

At that exact moment, Jade cheeks heated up as her stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten many of the doritos, despite them being her favourite snack, she was too worried she'd get crumbs over the soft leather seat. That, and they were a loud snack, and regardless of her being able to quote the movie from start to end, she didn't want to miss any of the lines.

"I'll take that as a yes then," He grinned. "I made reservations at a pizza place near yours." Daniel paused, unsure of whether Jade would actually want to go get dinner with him. Especially after he had just taken her to see a film.

"Pizza?" Jade breathed, "Id kill for pizza."

Daniel couldn't help but start laughing. He pushed down slightly on the accelerator pedal, sending them flying just a bit faster down the tarmac. They entered the city limits a short while later, and Jade could've sworn she saw a speed camera flash, to which Daniel just grinned and made no attempt to adjust his speed.

He pulled over the side of the road, and instructed her not to watch while he attempted to parellel park. A feat she thought would be easily completed by the formula one race winner. In the end, she forced him to get out of the car, and she slid over into the drivers seat, completing the manoeuvre perfectly in one go.

Daniel couldn't quite believe that he, the formula one driver had been out performed by a medicine student of all people. she should be able to install a catheter no problem, but parallel park should be a bit out of her area of expertise. Regardless, he led the way to the pizza restaurant. Jade following a step behind, wondering where the Aussie was leading her - half expecting him to murder her down a dark alleyway.

The pizzeria was small. All the tables were close together, everyone able to hear what anyone else was saying in the small area without actually meaning to.

jade didn't really mean it. The gin she had drunk earlier was trying to get her to open up a bit to Dan, but the close proximity of the other tables and patrons of the restaurant prevented her from doing so, and boy was she glad, she didn't really want to put dan off her before he even had a proper chance to get to know her. She felt a bit bad really, Dan had only really spoken to her when she was off her face on some form of alcoholic beverage, and yet here he was, resisting a visit home in order to spend time with her and she wasn't even able to relax and be herself with him. Even as he tried to coax some less awkward conversation out of her, she kept herself closed off to him.

Dan was confused. All the other times they had hung out, including the trip to the drive in cinema, Jade had been comfortable with him. It was only after he mentioned the dinner plans he had sorted she had closed off. She was telling him a very weird story about when she was a kid, and she was bolt upright, going back over parts of the story she had just explained, as though she was unsure of the story herself as she was telling him. He laughed along with her as she finished what she was talking about, and excused himself to the bathroom.

Jade let out the breath she didn't even realise she was holding when Dan got up to leave the table. She slouched back down into her chair, her back protesting a bit at the change of position for the worse. She rested her head in her hands briefly, and took another deep breath in. Why was this so difficult for her. She really bloody liked the boy, but she couldn't get her stupid self to open up a bit to him. She sat back in her chair, her posture perfect again, and took a sip of her wine. As she held the cool glass, her eyes wandered. She caught sight of the dark haired formula one driver settling the bill at the little table close to the back of the room.

"Shit," she murmured under her breath. Instantly she knew she had fucked up with Dan. She gripped the wine glass tighter in her hand, and downed the rest of the white liquid in her glass. She put the table on her glass a little too loud, but not so loudly that it caused Dan to turn back to look at her.

She grabbed her little clutch bag from the back of her chair, and hurried out of the small restaurant. She pushed the door open, and stepped out into the mild air of mid september. She pulled up the uber app on her phone, and her hands shakily tapped in her address. While she tried to figure out the location of the restaurant and the closest pick up point outside the warmly lit pizzaria, Dan joined her outside.

"Is my driving really that bad?" He chuckled weakly, catching sight of the app open on her phone.

Jades heart skipped a beat, causing her to almost drop her phone, and to give a small shocked yelp.

"Sorry!" Dan apologised, realising the fright he had given her.

"It's okay," Jade replied, locking her phone and clutching it in her hand as she crossed her arms.

"Is everything okay?" Dan asked her, his voice was soft. He was sure he had screwed up in some way, because why else would she be trying to get a taxi back, after basically walking out on their date.

"Yeah," the world fell out of her mouth before she could really think of it.

"Yeah right, I think you meant," Dan was in a bit of a mood. If she was uncomfortable with how the date was going, why couldn't she just say? Why did she just decide to run out of the restaurant the second he got up from the table?

"No, I am okay!" Jade insisted, reaching up to rub the corner of her eye, not really worried about what might happen to her eye make up. "It's just all a bit much right now."

Dan stood a bit shellshocked at Jade's confession. "Am i making things move too fast?"

"No!" Jade replied quickly, reaching out to touch his arm, before drawing it back. "It's my own issues." A group of people walked past, all of them holding lit cigarettes. The smoke wafted towards the pair, making shapes in their grey wisps, lit by the glow of the streetlights and the fairy lights decorating the large windows of the pizzeria. Jade almost asked if they had a spare for her, but held herself back. She had been a year smoke free, and she wasn't about to break that streak now, as much as she might want the little cylindrical stress reliever in her hand.

"you wanna tell me about them?" Dan asked as Jade was off in her own world, staring at the swirling left over smoke in the air.

"That's more of the 15th date confession," Jade whispered. her nails were digging into her sides. She was really trying to keep herself together on the little London street. Her throat suddenly got a bit clogged, and she stated coughing, trying to get the tears out of her mouth rather than let them come streaming from her eyes. Crying on a first date would definitely be the worst thing she could do right now.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Dan asked, it was obvious she needed to be anywhere but stood outside on a random road, with a relative stranger.

"Yes please," Jade replied, her voice suddenly very quiet.

Dan nodded, and took the car keys out of his jacker pocket. They walked side by side in silence to the car. They slid into the seat, and Dan guided the Audi out of the parking spot and back to Jades address.

The car sat on the street outside, idling for a little while. The occupants of the vehicle sat beside in silence.

"I'm sorry," jade finally broke the quiet of the car.

"Its okay" Dan replied. He wasn't sure how to respond to that apology. He had no idea what she was apologising for, and truth be told; he wasn't about to ask. It was clear that she didn't want anything to do with him. It was like she had led him on for the last few weeks.

"It's not okay."

Daniel was in agreement.

"I just need to think about things for a while," Jade said finally. "Can I call you tomorrow?"

Daniel stared straight ahead. His eyes glazed over as he gazed at the car parked in front of him. "Yeah, of course."

Jade popped open the car door, and pushed it open, letting the cool night air wash over them. "Daniel," She said the man's name, causing him to actually look at her for the first time since they left the restaurant. "Thank you. This has been one of the best dates I've ever had."

Dan's eyes widened a little, and he couldn't stop the smile that crossed his face. "I'm glad."

Jade returned the wide smile on Dan's face, and hopped out of the car, closing the door gently behind her.


	10. Chapter 10

The events after Jade and Dan left the restaurant kept playing on both of their minds all night. It was safe to say, neither party got much sleep that night.

The second Jade walked through the front door of her flat, she collapsed into her bed. Not even bothering to plug her phone in to charge. She laid fully clothed on top of the covers. He scuffed boots hanging off the end of the bed. She stared so hard up at the ceiling she began to see little pictures in the dabs of textured paint above her. She really liked Dan. It was easy with him, they got along like a house on fire, but after her last relationship, she was scared about what could happen. The only thing she could think of was how terrible it could all end. The constant yelling at each other between her and her ex started playing like a bad movie in her head. Like someone had turned a projector on and she was watching the last few months of her old relationship play back on the white surface she was staring up at. The longer she thought of those last few months with her ex, the more often his face turned into Dan's. It was bizarre. Dan making those faces, and saying those things and behaving like that. It just simply wasn't right, and Jade knew it. She knew it very deep down, and they hadn't even spent all that much time together in person. She knew there was no way Dan could say the type of things her ex was, and there was no way he'd yell the way her ex did, but at this point, it was hardwired into her. She needed to take things slowly with Daniel. It couldn't ever work though. He jetted off to a new place a couple of times a month, and when he got there, he'd literally be surrounded with attractive girls. All of them 10 times more attractive than she was. they'd all be tanned, and leggy, with perfect skin, and their hair would never be out of place. Make up would probably even be professionally applied every morning. How could she compete with that? These days she was lucky if she even managed to wash her hair. She was off in the library with her hair in a sloppy bun, in some leggings and a jumper or T shirt to even think about slapping on fake tan, let alone waiting for it to develop. Dan would go for them 10 times over her. Especially if she wasn't going to commit to him soon. Building up all that trust was difficult for anyone. Let along building up to that level while they hardly even saw each other. let alone while Dan was in a different country every week and she was on hospital shift after hospital shift. It wouldn't work. It would be miles better to cut things off now than get attached and get hurt when he inevitably slept with someone else a few weeks down the line.

Despite all the rationalisations about why building up feelings towards Dan was a bad idea, she still fell asleep thinking of the nights they spent together at her little flat back in Germany.

The next morning, all Dan could do in his sleep deprived state was stare at his phone. He was hoping Jade would call sooner rather than later. Though 6 am was probably a bit too early to hope for an earlier call. After scrolling on instagram for a few too many hours, he finally gave up, and headed to the bathroom. He was sick of sitting by his phone and expecting a call back. It was a fresh new day, and he had other things to do. Things that were better than him sat shirtless in bed staring at the stupid little screen. He was naked and about to step into the shower when the phone finally rang. Dan stopped, and stared at the water hitting the tiled shower floor for a few seconds, deciding if he should just get in regardless of the annoying ringtone. The second set of chimes started again, and with a sigh, he reached back into the shower and shut off the water. The bathroom was silent again, and the third set of phone ringtone started again. Dan sat back down on the bed, and stared at the phone screen, flashing up with Jades name. He sighed once more, and lifted the phone to his ear, sliding the answer bar across the screen as he did so.

The second the phone was pressed against his ear, he suddenly forgot what to say, and both Jade and Daniel sat in silence for a bit; each of them trying to work out how to start the conversation.

"Hi,"

"Hey."

They greeted each other in the same instant, and the pair chuckled at themselves through the phone. Both of their laughter slightly too breathy with nerves.

There was another long pause between the two of them. Finally, jade took the reigns of the conversation, and began talking.

"I'm sorry for how I acted last night. It's just," Jade paused and took a deep breath. "It's just that the last relationship I was in was a total cluster-fuck. Like it was fucking terrible."

Dan nodded, although he knew she couldn't see him.

"I'm really sorry about the whole thing. I do really like you, and i know it didn't come across that way after dinner, but I'd honestly love to see you again, but if you don't want you to see me again, i totally understand," Jade was talking into her phone really quickly. Her eye rubbing her eye, and smudging the dried coat of mascara onto the skin below her eyes.

Dan sat and listened, throwing himself back onto the bed as finished her very long sentence. He opened his mouth to reply. "Its okay, I just needed to know what was going on." He smiled into his phone. "I really would like to see you again," he finished off, not sure what else he could add to the end of the conversation.

Jade grinned back in return, seeing Dan's smile in her head, exactly the same as he usually smiled. She was used to seeing it in pictures online, and on the TV, but it was different in person. It was a bit lopsided, and his dimples were a bit deeper than she thought they were. His teeth were perfectly white, and she was sure he got them bleached like every week; or he at least did those at home whitening treatments at home. Or he was just perfect in general, and didn't need to bother with any kind of whitening treatment.

"What are you doing this weekend?" Dan asked, shaking Jade very abruptly out of her thoughts.

"Nothing i guess, just dissertation work i guess, I won't be working this weekend," Jade replied, consulting the wall calendar on the wall beside her bed.

"Could you do that Thesis work in Belgium?" Dan asked, one side of his face curving upwards in a half smile. He was really hoping she would say yes.

"I could probably, I'd have to bring a whole load of crap though," Jade started to bit her lip as she started to think about what she'd need to bring in order to get a chapter of her Thesis written in Belgium. "Whats in Belgium anyway? You're in London at the minute anyway. Aren't you?"

Dan chuckled at her, it clearly hadn't quite clicked that he was asking her to a race. Why else would he be asking her to Belgium? Maybe for a chocolate tour, but they'd just go somewhere in england for that. Though then again, Dan had a habit of doing things that were a bit extra. taking a girl on a first date to an F1 race, for example.

"For the race this weekend Jade," Dan said, interrupting the brunette on the other end of the phone mid rant about Belgium.

"Oh."

There was a long pause, while Jade thought about it. "I'd absolutely love to come," there was another pause while Jade's face wasn't a massive grin. "I just have so much Thesis work to get done"

Dan's face fell, and he flopped backwards onto his bed. "It's okay, it probably won't be the best race anyway," he rubbed a hand over his face. "Could you text me inn a bit? I was just heading in the shower."

Jade nodded, and realising he couldn't see her, hastily replied, "Yeah of course," She smiled and hung up the phone.

Dan flung the phone down onto the bed beside him a little harder than he anticipated. It bounced back up and he had to swat it out the way of hitting him in the face. He was still frustrated at how Jade was so closed off. Who would pick writing a long complicated essay over going to a formula one race and sitting in the garage. Dan sat up abruptly, and his head started thudding dully. He sighed once more, and stood up, finally ready to shower, only this time he was hoping the shower would improve his now foul mood.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you notice any continuity errors, please give me a shout so I can amend them. I've switched up the overall plan for this story just a tad, so the old timeline may be a little out of whack. I think I did catch all the small changes I made, but if something doesn't make sense, feel free to point it out!
> 
> Also please give this a vote or a comment if you're enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it!
> 
> Without further ado, I present to you: chapter eleven!

The next few days passed slowly, Jade and Daniel not really hearing from each other. They had been texting, but not texting as often as they had before their awkward phone call, and truth be told, neither of them thought it would return back to how things had been.

Dan had been sending Jade pictures and videos over Snapchat of the race weekend, and it was cool for her to see the behind the scenes of the race, and Jade 100% regretted not taking the driver up on his offer. Especially after seeing him and Joe goof off after a particularly hard going training session. She did, however, get the last chapters of her thesis written, and almost ready to hand in. It all just needed to be proofread, and then she was finished with her stupid PhD. Usually, Jade didn't mind working on it, especially as it was a subject she was very very passionate about, but she also would much rather be spending time with Dan rather than the university library, with hand cramp from too much typing.

On Sunday evening, while Jade was in bed, her laptop playing reruns of 'Community', and her entire 80,000-word thesis printed and stapled sat in her lap. The paper was marred by the reams and reams of coloured highlighter that covered almost every black typed letter. The brunette was sat on her bed, frowning to herself as she picked up a black biro and crossed out a whole paragraph of text, writing a note beside it in all caps. The ambience of the stressful situation was broken by the chiming of her laptop and phone. Someone was trying to face time her, she answered without even thinking to look at who it was. She half expected it to be Amy. She had peppered her best friend with a whole host of texts, all of them on the subject of how stressed she had been that weekend. Hence why when her German greeting was met with dead silence. She looked up at her computer screen, confused about who she had let witness her in this state if it wasn't Amy.

"Shit," she dove for her little black laptop, trying to close the screen before the Aussie could see much more of her in the state she was in.

"Nice to see you too," Daniel's stupid driver reflexes were too bloody fast for her.

"Hi," Jade's reply was a bit on the short side. She sighed and rested her head in her hands for a few long seconds. As she tried to hide her face from the Australian, he chuckled loudly at her. "Please ignore my appearance," She half begged him.

"You look great!" Dan beamed. He honestly did think she looked great. Even with about 5 hours of sleep, total, over 3 days, she still managed to look a million dollars.

Jade rolled her eyes at him, as she looked back up at him. "I am such a mess right now, but I've half-finished this STUPID thing!" She said, half shouting out the last half of her sentence.

Dan laughed, "Congrats! You free next weekend then?" He asked, his tone jokey, but his sentiment deadly serious.

"If you think I'm not taking next weekend off from absolutely everything, then you'd be dead wrong!" Jade's excitement was so great, Dan could almost feel it in the air a whole 2 countries away.

"I'm getting Ella to organise your tickets to Italy then!" He said, enjoying her reaction to his plan.re

"Are you sure?" Jade asked, her bottom lip between her teeth. "That's really generous."

"Of course!" Dan smiled. All he seemed to do around her was smile. "what better way would there be to celebrate you finishing your thesis! Spending time with me can't be topped, by literally anything, and you know it!"

Jade laughed along with him, and in mock celebration, tossed her paper into the air. It thudded back down onto the rug beside her bed. Dan chuckled at her, the noise of the paper falling was audible even over the muffed microphone on her laptop. For the first time that weekend, Jade left her thesis on the floor, along with her thoughts of it, and relaxed with Dan, and as she did so, she felt a massive weight lift off her shoulders.

***

Dan was waiting for her at the arrivals gate. The usual smile on his face. He had finally convinced Jade to come to another race. Though this time he was sure her face would end up on some magazine cover, or at least an Instagram fan page with the caption "New girlfriend?". Thinking about all this now, it made his stomach turn over. He really wanted it this weekend to run smoothly, and Jade's face plastered all over social media, and make her think twice about things with him.

Talking of Jade, she had finally appeared at the arrivals gate. Her dark hair was twisted up off her neck in a bun at the top of her head. She had a very full handbag hanging off her shoulder and was dragging a small suitcase behind her. Dan was almost amazed at how light she had packed. Most of the other wives and girlfriends of the drivers' tended to bring everything but the kitchen sink for race weekends, even though they were only there for 4 days at most. If him and Jade needed up being more like the other driver's and boyfriends, then at least he knew she'd have it down. Though she didn't really need much to make her look good, she had just waltzed off a flight, and she looked like she had stepped out of the pages of a magazine. As she got a bit closer, he grinned at her from under the hood of his jumper. Despite his massive smile being slightly obscured by the Jade could tell it was him, and accepted his warm hug. He wasn't in his usual race weekend logos and had managed to get away from the usual Thursday night duties to collect her from the airport with Joe.

"How was the flight?" He asked, taking the suitcase from her and wheeling it beside him and they followed Joe to the car park exit.

"It was alright actually," Jade sighed, fishing around in her bag for her water bottle. "I just finished off proofreading my thesis, so it's all ready to submit now"

"Oh, that great! Congrats!" Dan reached around her shoulders and pulled her in for a squeeze while she replaced the cap on her water bottle.

"Thanks!" She smiled back at him. "3 years of blood sweat and tears all over. It's a bit weird to think about actually." She chewed on a loose piece of skin on her bottom lip as her eyes furrowed.

"And you have the best way of celebrating the end!" Dan grinned, as they stepped out of the lift onto the car-park level Joe had left the big 4x4 (courtesy of Renault).

"Oh yeah?" Jade raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Getting to spend the entire weekend with me, at a race!" Dan grinned, setting himself into the backseat next to her. He leaned over and very unexpectedly gave her a peck on the cheek, causing both of their cheeks to heat up.

***

The weekend passed by in a blurry haze. Jade and Dan spent all their time away from the track together in very happy bliss. They were getting to know each other very slowly and sweetly, but at a pace, they were both very used to. They weren't mad about it, they were just happy about where they were at with each other.

By the time Jade had to be dropped off at the airport early Monday morning, both Jade and Dan found it very hard to say goodbye to each other. They had gotten used to being beside each other almost every second of the weekend (save from when Dan was in the car). It was very strange to be apart from each other after being together for a very solid chunk of time.

They hugged and before Jade walked through security, Dan leaned down and kissed Jade's cheek. He cheek warmed up and she couldn't quite keep her smile from breaking out. It was wide enough to give Dan's a run for his money. She let go of the handle of her suitcase and reached up to put her arms around Dan's neck. Smiling down at her, he met her lips in a kiss, that felt like it went on for a while, the two only parting when breathing again became really necessary. The hair on both their arms stood up, as they pulled away, neither wanting to let the other go.

"I'll see you soon?" Dan said, more asking than anything.

"Of Course, you have to come back to mine," Jade replied, kissing the back of Dan's hand she held in hers. "Properly this time."

The alarm on Jade's smartwatch went off, buzzing rather annoyingly against her wrist, signalling her time with Dan was finished for that weekend.

They kissed once more, and rested their foreheads against each other for a minute, before they bid each other goodbye, and headed in their separate ways, Jade through the gate at security and Dan back to the airport exit.


	12. Chapter 12

For both Jade and Dan, the next week away from each other was slow, Jade finalising and finishing off her Thesis, and getting slowly back into the swing of her shifts at the hospital. Dan putting in hour after hour in the race simulator in Enstone, and hour after hour in the gym and going on runs with Joe. Despite the time, and miles between them, they fell into a bit of a routine, face-timing every day, whether it was the morning after one of Jade's nightshifts, or the evening after she finished. They'd eat dinner or breakfast over the shaky internet call every day, catching up the other on their day, or just enjoying each other's company, talking about absolutely nothing. They'd even organised the next time they'd see each other. Dan would come to London and spend the week with her before they jetted off together for the next race in Belgium.

The week they spent together largely involved them hanging out in Jade's flat, binge-watching Netflix TV shows, and playing a few video games jade had on her laptop and PS4. They spent a lot of the time laughing and just generally getting to know each other a bit more. Despite them leaving the flat to spend more time together in a different country, they both missed the routine they had got themselves into over the week.

***

The short flight to Belgium was a very tense affair.

"Everyone is going to judge me aren't they?" Jade said, scraping the polish off her thumbnail with her bottom teeth.

"Who?" Dan asked, eyebrows furrowing. She had already met everyone on the team. They all got on with her. Even Cyrill had given her a bit of a smile.

"The general public," Jade said, swapping her thumbnail for a bit of loose skin on her bottom lip. "In Germany, someone got some pictures of me and you and put them online, and the comments were just horrible. What if they actually see my face this time?"

Dan laughed, "Just ignore them. they're not worth it, and even if they do see your face they'll think your amazing"

Jade shot him a scathing look and turned to look out of the window, watching the clouds go past.

Daniel turned around, looking up and down the aisle for a steward. He successfully flagged one down and sorted a drink out for him and Jade. Glittery gin and lemonades for each of them. He nudged Jade and she turned around, smiling when she saw the drinks in his hands. She gratefully took one, and rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arm around her for a half-cuddle. Jade picked up one of the headphones resting on Dan's chest and put in her ear, listening to whatever music Dan had chosen to be his playlist for the flight.

Dan smiled down at Jade's head and gently kissed the spot in the middle of her head where her hairline met her forehead. He pulled out his phone and took a quick selfie of them with careless smiles on their faces. Jade's eyes were shut as she rested on Dan's chest, and he was looking down at her with a very soft look in his eyes. He looked at the picture for a little while, before opening Instagram, and posting the picture, not bothering with a caption. He clicked his phone screen off and put his phone back on the tray table in front of him.

Dan's eyes shot open as the plane wheels hit the ground. He pulled Jade closer into him as she stirred too. She blinked up at him, and he leaned down to give her a little peck on the lips. She pulled the other half of Dan's earbud out of her ear and sat back up. and started watching out of the window at the Belgian airport, glad that they were out of the sky. Strangely though, with Dan sat beside her, she didn't feel half as anxious as she usually did on planes. He knew exactly what to say to distract and calm her down.

They had left at a stupid time in the morning to make the flight that Wednesday morning, and for good reason, the airport was very quiet. No-one was there to notice Daniel, but he had his hood up and sunglasses on anyway. The two brunettes headed to the rental car point, and after a little bit of waiting, and some confusion about what car they were getting, Dan had the keys in hand and was ready to head to the circuit. He had logo's on under his staple black hoodie, but they wouldn't be visible until they reached the track, and were safely tucked away in Daniel's driver's room at the back of the garage.

Wednesday was usually a boring day for Jade at the track. Dan was tied up in meetings and press things, and she was a bit of spare wheel in the Renault garage and motorhome. This weekend she'd been invited by the F1 medics to a meeting, considering her thesis had been on high-speed RTA's, the FIA team had been keen to discuss her work, and Jade, after having spent, what felt like her whole life working on her thesis, was more than happy to discuss the piece of work she'd put her blood sweat and tears into.

***

That evening, Dan and Jade sneakily brought back a pizza. Joe had headed straight for his room as soon as they got back to the hotel, and the couple headed back to the car park as soon as he left the lift. They giggled the whole way back to the car, feeling like a pair of teenagers sneaking out of their bedroom windows.

The rest of the evening they spent by listening to music and just talking. About what felt like everything there was to talk about. Being with Dan was a different experience for Jade. Most of the other guys she had dated had been as grounded as him, and he was an international celebrity. There were people all over the world who idolised him, yet, Dan never took himself very seriously. Every other guy Jade had dated had acted like the world revolved around them, and that their opinions were the only right ones that existed. Dan wasn't at all like that. He'd listened to everything Jade said and thought about his responses before he said them, which was something that Jade valued about him very highly. Especially considering her short temper, most people who spoke without thinking, just tended to get into an argument with her. It was one of the reasons she only had a few close friends. That, and the fact that she was also largely untrusting of most people. The conversations they were having drifted onto their family after a while, due to the few texts Dan's mum had been sending him that evening.

"What's she like?" Jade asked as Dan typed out a text to his mum, the quiet taps of his phone keyboard sounding out on top of the music playing through the Bluetooth speaker he brought with him literally everywhere.

"Who? My mum?" Dan replied, turning to face Jade quickly. He leaned into her from where he was laying next to her on the bed and gave her a quick peck on the lips. He finished his message and put the phone down on his chest. "She's lovely, she gets very clingy on race weekends, as you've noticed," He chuckled, thinking about the last race, where as soon as the checkered flag was waved, his phone had gone mental with messages and calls from her. "I still can't believe she hasn't understood that I can't actually answer her phone calls until I'm out of the car."

The pair laughed at his comment, Jade had experienced the phone calls from Gemma first hand. The last race she'd been at, Dan had left his phone with her, she hadn't done anything with it, except take a bunch of selfies with Joe during the long stint away from Dan. The sleek black iPhone had been in her bag when Gemma started blowing it up with calls and texts. She had thought his phone might vibrate so much it would wear a hole in the fabric of her cross-body bag and fall to the floor.

Dan turned on his side to face at her, lacing his hands though hers as he spoke, "I think she'd like you." Dan smiled gently at her.

Jade laughed, her cheeks heated up, and she tried her best to avoid his eyes. she wriggled around onto her back and stared fixedly at the smooth ceiling of the hotel room. "Not many parents like me," She said so softly Dan almost didn't catch it.

"What do you mean?" came his response, as soft as her voice had been. The music should've drowned out this very quiet conversation, but to the couple, the music had faded very far into the background.

"I mean, I'm not really the girlfriend type," She replied, refusing to look at the tall Aussie as he moved to sit up against the headboard.

"I think you are," He said, reaching out to play with Jade's loose hair that had fanned out across the pillow she was laying on.

Jade's eyes met Dan's for a few long seconds, before she tore them away to stare at the ceiling again, her breath catching in her throat.

"Jade," Dan whispered. He was looking at her lips as he breathed her name, and Jade almost stopped breathing for a few seconds. "Would you be my girlfriend?"

The seconds lasted even longer, each moment is drawn out for so long it was as though an entire decade had been lived out in the time it took Jade to respond.

"Are you sure?" She replied in the same hushed tone as Daniel. She hadn't realised how long she had been holding her breath until she spoke, and after her breathing became shallow and rapid, like she was catching her breath after a long run.

Dan laughed at her reply and rested his hand on her face. He was leaning over her now, his face directly above hers, as she lay on her back staring up at him.

"Yeah," Jade finally replied. She chuckled, relieved at herself for taking the plunge with Dan. For so long she had been trying to push him, and everyone else away, but now was as good a time as any to jump into the unknown with Dan. She was as sure about Dan as she was sure the sky was blue, and the grass green. He made her come out of her shell, and although she hadn't been able to fully open up to him; he'd encouraged her to open up more than anyone else had when in his position.

This was a good thing for her, he was a good thing for her. She just hoped she was a good thing for him too.


	13. Chapter 13

Qualifying had been by far the most Daniel had smiled. In the interview circuit, almost every question posed to Dan was related to the picture he'd posted late last night. Dan thought Ellie, his esteemed PR officer, hadn't totally done her job of ensuring the questions posed to him were race-related, but he secretly was a bit happy, he hadn't done the best he could in Quali, down to the slightly different set-up with the car, and was happy to avoid as many questions around his less than stellar performance and instead talk about his new girlfriend. He could talk about Jade for hours.

Jade's face had also been broadcast on the F1 screens, a lot more than it had ever been before, and the second Jade caught sight of her face, and the name tag to go with is 'Jade Kirke, Girlfriend of Daniel Ricciardo' caused her face and neck to heat up bright red. She almost couldn't believe that she was his girlfriend, but was very happy she was.despite the public scrutiny that came with it.

When Dan came back to the garage after the media circus, the camera's for a few TV networks were still poking around the Renault garage, despite the engineer's attempts to keep them out. Every camera was trained on him and Jade, filling the screens with their every interaction. Jade had set some ground rules for their PDA when the cameras were out and about. Jade and Dan agreed they should be limited to hand-holding, cheek pecks, and not much more. It did mean, that the cameras came in extra close every time they did touch each other, regardless of how briefly it was.

Joe has been concerned that Jade's presence that weekend would distract him from the work that had to be done on track. Except it was the complete opposite. He and Dan had spent the best part of the last 5 years together, and considering that Dan trained almost every day, they'd quickly become very close friends. And, in those 5 years, Joe had never seen Dan as focussed as he was this weekend. He hadn't put a foot wrong all weekend. He was on time to all their PT sessions, he'd had a lot to contribute in all the debrief sessions and despite the little trouble with the car, he'd done a near-perfect qualifying lap. Everything so far was pointing to a good weekend him. A podium this weekend after a tough few weeks and a very tough year would really work wonders in terms of his confidence. Especially considering he had Jade by his side now.

Sunday morning caused Dan to be very quiet. He was mainly away with the fairies, his ears obscured by a large pair of headphones. Aside from a small bit of conversation between the couple in the morning, after they first woke up, Daniel hadn't said a word to his girlfriend. Jade kind of understanding, He was under a lot of pressure to get a podium. The media had been on his back, along with the rest of the team. His performance over that weekend and the last few had been so close to a podium, but the race had ended a few laps short of the result both he and the team wanted. This weekend, he was in the zone.

In his small room in the back of the garage, Jade and her new boyfriend shared a kiss, and just before Dan had to go out into the car Jade clutched him close in a hug. He was so close to her she could hear his heart beating against her ear. It was a steady drumming sound, that helped her slow her own heartbeat down to the same pace of his. If he wasn't nervous or worried she wouldn't be either. She had watched him race a handful of times before now, but after the recent realisation of how much he meant to her, there was a marked change. She didn't want to let him go for the next 60-something laps, anything could happen to him in the delicate car that was wide open to the elements. He'd be safe, he'd been safe for 160 odd races, he'd be safe for one more, and that was all she asked, for him to be safe for just one more race. They pulled away from each other when they heard the soft knock at the door from Joe, and they shared a parting kiss. When Joe entered, they had their foreheads pressed against each other. He cleared his throat gently, and the two separated, smiling at each other and then at Joe.

"You okay?" Dan asked his girlfriend, his smile growing wider as he looked at her, remembering that she was his girlfriend.

Jade chuckled, as he put his hand on the small of her back as he let her through the narrow corridor first. "Aren't I supposed to be the one asking you that question?"

Dan smiled at her and squeezed her hand before he started speaking to his race engineer. Jade could tell from that squeeze that he was confident for the race. She settled herself in the back of the garage with Joe, the cameras turned onto her, no doubt someone on the other end of the feed was talking about how Dan's new girlfriend was watching the race, and how that added extra pressure on him.

There was the familiar whir of the engine, and soon enough, Dan was peeling out pf the garage and into the pit lane. His voice crackled over the headphones clamped over her ears. His voice cracked into earshot along with the those of the engineers on the Pit-wall. They were doing the usual radio and systems checks as he readied himself for the race ahead. Jade had watched her boyfriend race a fair amount of times now, and every time he pulled out of the garage, butterflies erupted in her stomach - not the good kind of butterflies either, it was a horrible type. Jade had spent enough years of her life reading about high-speed car crashes, and every time the 5 red lights turned on at the start of the race, every single horror story she'd read and wrote about came to the forefront of her mind, and began playing like a sick movie that she was unable to tear her eyes away from.

Dan rolled to a stop on the main straight, his mind completely focussed on the race ahead. He swapped the car set-up to the 'start' option without really thinking about it. Everything to make the car move, he was doing on autopilot. His feet resting very lightly on the pedals were ready to do what needed to be done to get him off down to turn one. His mind was thinking through the first few corners, planning a few scenarios in his head while the rest fo the grid lined up. Dan's eyes were trained on the lights above the black and white checkered line and reassigned his brainpower to the real race, He blinked twice, and the lights flicked off.

Jade's heart was in her mouth as she watched her boyfriend car leap forwards, She wanted to look away, but her muscles weren't responding to her brains instructions. She clasped her hands together, fingers laced together, and raised them to her face, the knuckles on her index fingers resting on her top lip. She exhaled sharply as he overtook on the Toro Rosso's, and heard the steady voice of one of Dan's race engineers encouraging him to get the next one done. The tense expression on her face slowly turned into a smile as she watched the man she loved 'send it' down the inside past Hamilton, and take the lead- briefly - Hamilton fought back, and the two cars had a bit of drag race down the next straight. Jade urged him on silently, watching as Dan made up fractions of seconds. He dove into the corner, taking the inside line out of Hamiltons grasp. They bumped tyres, everyone in the garage took a sharp breath in, Even the Radio quietened for a few seconds. The silver arrow backed off just a tad, and Dan had his foot to the floor, the second he'd left the corner behind. The car shot forwards, flying towards the starting straight, leaving him to stay in the first place. Jade had to hold back from violently punching the air and instead settled for a rather large grin, sharing the same facial expression with Joe. The rest of the garage took care of the audible celebration. From there, Dan drove a perfect race. There were a few incidents behind him, but the strategy calls were pitch-perfect, and the Australian took the black and yellow car home in first place. It had been a long while since he'd stood on the top step, let alone come near the podium itself.

Jade lapped up the atmosphere in the garage. Literally everyone in the garage had a large smile plastered to their face. Nico had brought home a good result too - not a podium place, but a healthy fourth position. Joe and Jade's matching grins hadn't shifted since Dan took that first position against Lewis. They and the rest of the mechanics raced down the pit-lane towards the podium and Parc Ferme. Dan had jumped out of the car, and stood on the nose of his car, pointing at the team assembled there. Jade and Joe jostled for places closest to the barrier and Dan finally jumped off the car, and launched himself over the metal barriers, and into the arms of the Team. Despite the many arms outstretched to keep him up, he still slid down, landing a little rough on his feet again. The Aussie spotted Joe and Jade and accepted a hug from his trainer, not paying too much attention to the pats on his back that where being administered by the team members standing nearby.

Jade managed to lock eyes with Dan through the open visor of his helmet, and from his eyes, she could see how big his grin was just from his eyes. she rested her forehead against the visor that Dan had pushed up and murmured a few words of congratulations to her boyfriend. She doubted he'd be able to hear her over the roar of the crowd and the sheet noise of the team members gathered around them - let alone through the thick material of his helmet. She planted a kiss on the multicoloured visor, and Dan's hand clutched hers over the metal partition. He was pulled away by an FIA employee in a white shirt, and with a final squeeze, their hands unclasped. She watched him do his short interview on the forecourt, before watching him head up to the podium.

Dan stood in the cool-down room, watching the TV screen showing the final timings. His eyes widened slightly when he saw how far ahead he had been. He'd been told of the gap the whole way through the race, but he still didn't quite believe it in the car. But out of the car, stood waiting to accept his first-place trophy, it all became a little more realistic. He was joined shortly by Sam, his race engineer.

"Congrats mate!" Sam said to him, punctuating it with another pat on the back. He'd almost forgotten how many pats on the back a race winner would get after a race.

Dan smiled back, and grabbed his hand, pulling the Englishman into a very blokey hug, bumping their shoulders together. He reached for one of the bottles of water on the tableland downed almost all of it, in a one really long gulp. Lewis and Valterri joined the Renault boys a few seconds after, each of them congratulating the Aussie with slaps to the back (again).

"I haven't quite forgiven you for that bump on lap one," Lewis chuckled, reaching for the Pirelli cap.

"All's fair in love and war, Right!" Dan laughed back, adjusting the back of his first-place cap.

"Really good drive by you from what I hear though," Lewis said, earning a human agreement from Valterri.

"Thanks!" Dan's grin widened. "Couldn't have done it without you." causing a chuckle from the room before they headed out to the podium, Valterri first, followed by Lewis, then Sam and Finally Daniel.

The smile on the Australian's face looked like it might cause his face to spilt, it was that big. He closed his eyes, trying to fight off the tears that welled up as he heard his anthem echo out over the largely quietened crowd. Tears now under control, he scanned the crowd closest to Parc Ferme, for his girlfriend. She was stood int he same spot, her eyes shining with utter adoration for him. The trophy presentation went by faster than expected, but Dan savoured every moment of it holding the oddly shaped hunk of metal above his head, he relished the feeling of the top step, not having been stood there for some time, and not being sure when he'd next be back here. it was such a fleeting feeling of victory if you weren't in the best car, and moments like these were precious.

Soon enough, Jade was watching as her boyfriend doused his race engineer in champagne, before taking his shoe off, She buried her head in her hands as she realised what was coming soon. She turned her gaze back to her tall boyfriend filling his, no doubt, sweat-filled shoe with champagne and laughed and cheered along with everyone else as he lifted it to his lips and drank it. Dan threw his arms out above his head after he downed the 'drink' and Jade vowed she'd try her hardest not to kiss him until he at least brushed his teeth.


	14. Chapter 14

The after-party of the win was one of the best parties Joe had ever attended. He'd been training Dan since his Formula One debut, but none really topped this. At first, Joe had been a bit hesitant to let Dan drink, His immediate thoughts were of the perfect nutrition plan he'd designed for Dan, but it had been a long few years. He supposed Dan deserved a break, and it was the first party that Jade would experience. He'd enjoyed watching Jade and Dan together., They made a cute couple. When they didn't think anyone was looking, they'd give each other a peck on the cheek. Their hands hadn't unlinked since they'd walked into the swanky hotel bar. It didn't take a genius to figure out that when sober, Jade didn't really like socialising. She had one conversation topic and it was based around her Thesis, which made sense, she had been working towards it for about 8 years. But still, it wasn't the best thing to talk about at a party. Joe was sure she had just binned off socialising at university in favour of her studies. And that was why's she was clinging to Daniel, and why he was clinging to her. He was her crutch in situations such as these. He'd see how things would change after a while, as she had a few more drinks. Joe knew first hand how much Jade came out of her shell when she drank. The first night they met, in that dingy German bar, Jade had come across like a completely different person to the one she was sober. It surprised her that her sober self and Dan managed to get on so well.

***

Jade rolled her eyes at something Dan said but chuckled along with the rest of the group. She was a little sick of celebrating with the other team members, but it was something she had to do. She didn't quite see why she was needed there, Dan was the man of the hour - several hours, actually. She squeezed her hand free from Dan's grip and excused herself to the bathroom.

She headed straight for the marble counter lining one of the walls to check up on her face. Never in her life had she had so many photos taken of her. She was looking okay. Some of the make-up had worn off around her nose, and she rubbed the area around her nostrils a little, trying to see if she could disguise her flush underneath the make-up that had managed to stay on. How the other wives and girlfriends managed it she had no idea. Jade sighed and resolved herself to ask Celeste, Hulkenberg's girlfriend for some tips the next time she saw her. she ran a hand through her dark hair and sighed again. She was exponentially lucky really. She was quite average looking, and yet, had managed to score herself a bloody celebrity boyfriend. She'd much rather he was out of the limelight, but there was very little she could do about that now, except duck or cover her face anytime a camera lens was pointed in her direction. She didn't desire for any unsavoury people finding her. And it would be easy for them to do that. Formula One was a highly publicised sport after all. Jade took a deep breath and headed out of the bathroom with luxury hand soap and hand lotion beside every sink. Her mind was set on the bar, alive with the thoughts of all the drinks they offered.

Dan gratefully accepted the bottled beer she handed over. She'd looked on the drink menu before ordering, and selected one from an Australian Brewery. She wasn't sure he'd noticed. He was too caught up with talking about his overtakes in the race to Tim from finance. She didn't think Tim from finance had any idea about the differential settings Daniel was harping on about, but Tim was listening in with rapt attention. Tim had looked over and flashed a small smile in her direction, and she'd returned it weekly. Dan's hand found hers and he gave it a small squeeze. Dan rook a pause to take a couple of breaths, and Jade quickly seized her opportunity to head back their shared hotel room and take off her make up and save her feet from her heels. Dan turned to look at her girlfriend, as she leaned in to whisper in his ear.

"I think I might head up,"

Dan's eyebrows knitted together, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired," Jade smiled at her boyfriend. "And my feet are killing me!"

Dan smiled back, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. "Can you wait like 10? So I can say bye?" He gestured with one hand to the still full bar.

"I'll just meet you up there, I'm sure I'll see everyone tomorrow morning," She pecked his cheek, and slid off the barstool to her feet, wobbling slightly in the stilettos she had on. She drained the last of her drink, and set it down on the table.

Dan frowned but watched her go. He sighed, "I guess that's my cue. Thanks, mate," Dan bid goodbye to Tim at their table, He did the rounds, carting his beverage around as he wished the rest of the team members dotted around the hotel bar a good night. He ended up taking close to an hour, thanking everyone for their well-wishes.

***

By the time Dan arrived in his and Jade's shared room, she was passed out in the bed, One of her feet sticking out under the covers. Dan smiled, and kissed her forehead, causing her to stir a little and nuzzle herself deeper into the pillow. Dan undressed, leaving his clothes on the floor by the bed, and hopped in next to her. the feel of the bed shifting slightly under his weight, work Jade from her light slumber, and she automatically moved over to cuddle into Dan's side. The feel of Jade's cheek on the skin connecting his shoulder to his chest was a comforting enough presence for him to fall asleep within minutes. But Dan was sure the alcohol he'd been drinking all evening had helped him drift off. 

***

Ooof, I'm so sorry this is shorter than usual. I'll try and make it up next week, but I'm finding this harder to write about...


	15. fifteen

Jade had since returned to London, and was happy to be back in her semi-normal routine at the hospital. With everything submitted for Uni, a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders and was enjoying immersing herself in the treatment of the trauma patients that came through the A&E doors. Dan had been a little annoying, and had been texting her slightly too much throughout the day. And as she finished her lunch sat in her car, she made the executive decision to leave her phone in her car for the rest of her shift. She had things to do, and Daniel could wait, he was probably in high demand from everyone at the factory anyway.  
Dan frowned. he knew Jade had a job that did render her unable to text a lot of the time, but that still didn’t seem like an excuse to leave him on ‘read’ for most of the afternoon. His frown deepened as he stared at what he’d typed into the little text bar, ‘You’re not ignoring me are you?’ with an emoji of its tongue sticking out. He signed, and held this thumb over the delete button. That was a bit clingy, he supposed, and he knew his girlfriend well enough. She wouldn’t like clingy, no matter how charming he was over text. He signed, and out his phone back in his pocket, and sighed, heading out of the room Renault had put aside for his office despite him not even being at the Factory that much to need an office. It was helpful for times like these, where he did want a bit of privacy to text, or rather not text, Jade. He headed back to the simulator room and half listened to James the engineer going over some of the changes they were doing to this run. As he strapped himself in to the simulator seat, he reached to take out his phone, and sent a quick ‘I love you’ text to Jade. As least that was likely to be appreciated by her, he hoped.  
Jade was sat in the drivers seat, replying to Dan’s ‘I love you ‘ text. He hadn’t said anything else after he sent it, which was a bit surprising compared to his non-stop messaging earlier in the day. Though as soon as she sent her text, her phone started chiming with a sudden influx of new messages. She sighed, and gently tossed her phone onto the passenger seat, hoping the jumper it was resting on would muffle the noises it was making. She turned the car radio on, and let the mindless chatter of Talk Sport fill the car, as she navigated out of the carpark and through the familiar roads leading her home. She hated driving in London. There were always so many cars, and they were always in a rush. Her daily commute were the two times of the day were she really missed Germany. Even though she lived in the city there, everything was more relaxed, and she didn’t have a chorus of car horns accompanying her every time she her car started moving a second later than when the traffic lights turned yellow. Dan never seemed to let impatient London drivers annoy him. His grin would stay firmly on his face and he’d chuckle, making a joke that they’d hate the formation lap or something like that. He was calling her now, as she pulled up her handbrake. She answered and despite how annoying his texts were, she was grateful to see his face through her phone screen, his smile lit up her car on the little London street all the way from Milton Keynes. He was one of those people that were rare, and she knew she’d do well to keep him in her life.  
“Hey!” She smiled as she swiped across the screen to answer.  
“Hey yourself!” Dan grinned back, “How was your day?”  
“Busy,” She sighed, busy was never good for an A and E practitioner, but sometimes that was how it was. It was never very fun.  
Dan gave her a strained smile, “I’ve got some good news for you though!”  
Jade pulled the left corner of her lips into a wry smile, “Oh yeah?” She said as dropped her phone face up in her lap, grabbing her handbag and carrier bag of her empty Tupperware lunch box from the seat next to her.  
“I know you’re off this weekend, and to celebrate last weeks win, there’s a bit of a staff party at the Factory this weekend, I kinda have to got and I was really hoping you’d like to be my date?” He asked, his face brightening as he asked the underside of her chin.  
Jade was suddenly quite thankful for the unflattering angle of just her chin, caused by her phone position in her lap, “Yeah sure,” She said with a small sigh. “Look I’ve just got back, and I want to start dinner, and catch up a little on ‘Killing Eve’, do you mind if I call you back before bed?”  
Dan nodded, despite Jade not being able to see him. She was very focused on something in the passenger seat out of frame it seemed. “Yeah, ‘Course! No worries! I’ll speak to you later!” He blew a kiss through the phone and hearing the ‘mwah’ returned from Jade, he pressed the red button.  
As the monotone dial tone was muffled in her lap, She dropped the handles of her carrier bag, and let them crumple in on itself back in the passenger seat. She clutched the steering wheel at the top, her knuckles turning white as she rested her forehead against the backs of her hands. She sighed, the air from her mouth washing down the sleeves of her jacket towards her elbows. She rested her chin on her fingers, and grabbed the handles of the carrier bag again, and popped open the drivers side door. As she let herself into her little London flat, and dumped a tin of soup into a saucepan to heat up, she began thinking of all the ways she could possibly get out of this Factory party.  
***  
Jade sighed as she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She was in Dan’s bathroom, trying to drag out the time to took her to get ready as long as she could. She’d already taken the longest shower of her life, and had shaved every inch of her body she could reach, as well as applied hair treatments she never bothered touching, and used half a tub of body scrub until her legs were red raw. She was now taking 2 mins of teeth brushing to heart, running her electric toothbrush over every exposed part of enamel. She sighed and spit, a bit of blood mixed with the foamy toothpaste as it washed down the white porcelain. She’d googled elaborate hair curling methods, and was fully prepared to try them out this evening, maybe it would make them late, or maybe Dan would decide that he couldn’t be bothered to wait for her. She rolled her eyes at that last thought, Dan would wait for years if that was how long it took her to get ready. He was just that kind of guy.  
Dan sat on his bed, playing with his portable speaker, playing various songs and albums through it, enjoying how his girlfriend was singing along to the songs, regardless if she knew them words or not. Every time she asked him for a request, he happily obliged, enjoying how she sang along properly when she had chosen the track.  
Dan was frowning at his phone, ignoring Jade’s song request. “Dan!” She said sharply, tossing her make up sponge at her boyfriend.  
He caught it, “Are you almost ready? We’re a little late,” He said, throwing the sponge back at her before switching the song she had requested.  
Jade gestured to her towel and half curled head of black hair, “Not quite,” She said with a sheepish smile. “Maybe like 30 minutes more?” She said turning back to the mirror.  
Dan sighed, and lounged back on the headboard, his head resting on the pillows stacked in front of it. He went back to scrolling through his phone, while Jade finished sorting herself out.  
“If you want you can leave now, and I’ll get an Uber or something when I’m done,” Jade said, letting down a strand of hair and twirling it around her finger.  
“Nah its okay, I can wait,” Dan looked up and gave her a grin.  
Jade smiled back, and turned back to the large mirror she’d been staring into for the last few hours. Jade spent the next half perfecting every little thing about her appearance. It certainly wasn’t necessary, but she didn’t really feel like spending the evening with Daniel’s closest friends at the factory. However, she couldn’t spend forever stroking the tip of her eyeliner pen against her eyelid only to apply the tiniest possible black line that literally made no difference to the rest of make up. The lid was capped and and the pen set down and she spun round, a smile plastered to her face.  
“Ready!”  
Dan looked up at her, “Wow,” the corners of his lips flicked upwards and drew back off his teeth, forming the smile that Jade had fallen for.  
She laughed as he got up off the bed, his hands coming to her waist as he ducked his head down to catch her lips in a kiss.  
“You think I look okay?” she laughed against his lips.  
“Perfect,” he said, kissing her again. “Now get dressed.”  
Jade laughed, and she swapped the fluffy dressing gown for a pair of jeans and a nice top she’d laid out earlier. “So everyone will be there?”  
“Yeah! It’s a team wide thing. Weren’t you listening when I told you?” Dan said, a slight furrow on his brow as he did up the clasp on his watch.  
“I was! I was just checking how many people would be there,” She said, sniffing the air after her last puff of perfume. “Ready to go?”  
“Its partytime!” Dan laughed, keys and wallet secured in his pocket, as he  
Jade chuckled at her boyfriend, with a last glance at herself in the mirror, she headed down to join him at the party she wished she didn’t have to attend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaand, I'm back!
> 
> A whole pandemic later - that still hasn't ended - I'm Back! I haven't got to where I'd like to be in terms of writing ahead, but I finally finished this chapter, so I thought fuck it I'll post it! I'll try for the next update in 2 weeks, if you're very lucky then it'll be sooner than that, but I'm currently running a business from home, and in my final year of uni so there does feel like there's not enough hours in the day. 
> 
> I do however, post often(ish) on instagram, so if you like you can follow me there: @thehellisausername or if you prefer twitter, I'm there too and I do tweet more than often there where I'm @redgatorrr 
> 
> I hope you liked the chapter!


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